Missing boy, 3, found safe; suspect still missing

Police have found an abducted 3-year-old boy safe this afternoon in an abandoned house on the city's west side, but the man who is believed to have taken him is still missing.

Author:
Katrease Stafford, Detroit Free Press , WZZM

Published:
10:42 AM EDT October 20, 2016

Updated:
2:28 PM EDT October 20, 2016

Police have found an abducted 3-year-old boy safe this afternoon in an abandoned house on the city's west side, but the man who is believed to have taken him is still missing.

Officers located Marvie Gardner at about 1:45 p.m. in a house on the 19000 block of Biltmore, said Detroit Police public information officer Jennifer Moreno. He was unharmed.

Officers are still searching for Michael Lee Grayson, 19, a family friend who is believed to have taken Marvie early this morning from the boy's home in the 19300 block of Winston, near the Plymouth Road/Telegraph area, in a stolen purple Plymouth Voyager van.

The van was recovered at about 12:30 p.m. today in the 19000 block of Riverview.

The Amber Alert that was issued this morning after Marvie went missing has been canceled.

It's unclear what led police to the abandoned home.

"This is all very fresh, and we're still investigating," Moreno said.

According to Deputy Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald, Grayson and his girlfriend were visiting the home with their child, but got into an argument. The girlfriend took their child and left, he said.

Grayson stayed and spent the night but, at some point, he took the 3-year-old child of the mom who lived there, leaving a note that said: "Get my baby!! Will contact. Done play'n' Let's play."

"When the child's mother woke up at 5:30 this morning, she noticed the child was missing," Fitzgerald said.

He said police don't believe the boy is in any harm, but "we want to get the child back safely."

Latoya Spears, Marvie's mother, told the Free Press she awoke to find her son wasn't lying next to her. She searched the house, noticed a side door was open and found the note.

Before Marvie was found, she said she had a message for Grayson:

"Michael, I promise you, do not hurt my baby, You need to return him now. ... You holding my baby hostage until yours come up. I don't have no part of that."

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 911 or Detroit Police at 313-596-5640.